Tuesday Tidbits - Starring the Rings & Things 7-loop Star Connector Necklace

Yesterday I mentioned the July goodies package and said that I was getting close to finishing some designs for the remaining items. Today I can share what I've been working on with the Gold filled 7 loop star connector and some Soft Flex Trios (Tranquility) from the June blog partner offer.

The pendant and design elements are strung onto 24k Gold Soft Flex Extreme wire (which was part of my Extreme Trios prize in their Twitter contest!). The gleam and shine of the 24k Extreme is really lovely. The beads I used are glass bicones because I didn't have any Swarovski in the right colors. I know those would look better - this "Under the Boardwalk" assortment from Rings & Things would be a good choice, I think.

I wanted to use the Trio colors as embellishment, so I crimped about an inch and a half of one of the three Tranquility colors on either side of a set of bicones, then pinched it to a point to echo the points on the star. This will definitely be re-done, I've learned a number of things that I can do better (to say nothing of using Swarovski crystals instead of glass bicones) in the next version.

I had the day off today and one of the things I tried was to teach myself how to create a wrapped wire cabochon (thanks to Tammy Powley and her About.com 'how to' article). I think I'm getting the hang of it, but it's going to take more time, materials and a couple new tools before they're ready for prime time, so I decided to try a different approach. Tomorrow I'll share some pendants I've made with that approach and some gorgeous free form polished stones I received from Fable's Rocks (@MidnightReading on Twitter), beading wire and silver/copper embellishments.